Gingersnap Creations Border Punch Challenge

Today at Gingersnap Creations we are asked to pull out those fabulous border punches for the new Spicy Supply Challenge.  I don't know about you, but I sometimes tend to go for months where I neglect my punches.  I don't know why, I just get out of the groove.  So it was super-fun to get out a few and layer some frilly edges on a very spring-time card.  The gorgeous bluebird image is from Retro Cafe Art Gallery - Bird Love Collage Sheet.  Retro Cafe Art Gallery is our sponsor this month, so that means there is an absolutely fabulous prize up for grabs. (Seriously, all you altered art lovers, go look, it's amazing!)  Anyway, I added some distress inks to the edges, which were punched with Martha Stewart's Hydrangea edge punch (sadly retired, I nabbed one off e-bay!) and an EK success doily edge.  The background panel for my birdies is some very cool Jane Austin paper from Papertrey Ink, stamped with a floral motif and inked up with broken china distress ink.  I finished off the card with some lace and a pebble accent.

And in a new twist......  the Ginger Gems will be chosen by our blog readers!  All the details are on the Gingersnap Creations post. :)

Granny's Photo Album at Gingersnap Creations

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted! So sorry to have been AWOL for so long. Our entire household has had these terrible colds - a horrible cough, pink eye, congestion, fatigue - and I just haven't felt up to crafting, blogging, or anything much else. I am very much aware that this is the "small stuff" though - nothing major, nothing life threatening, and so we just carry on.  I am grateful for the health of my family, for sure.

So enough yammering on... today it's time for another fun month of challenges at Gingersnap Creations, and we're starting off with the theme of "Granny's Photo Album." Our sponsor this month is the fabulous Retro Cafe Art Gallery - with wonderful vintage images and collages that are right up my alley!

I decided to have some fun and came up with a piece that I imagined as "Grandfairy's Photo Album" - a little twist on the theme.  The adorable children's portraits are from the Oh Baby 2 collage sheet, and the lovely floral backgrounds are by Debrina Pratt - DP98.  I added in some stamped and distress stained wings, some charms, and a bit of chipboard here and there.  Some background inking and matting of the photos completed the look.  These could just as easily have been a set of ATCs, too - the backgrounds are sized accordingly on the collage sheet.

So all of you vintage-loving gals... how about giving this one a try?  Spin the theme however you wish. ;)

I am hoping to get back in the swing of things and get around to all of your beautiful blogs sometime this week.  Our schedule this week has slowed down some - my son is in between hockey seasons - his team just won the championship for his age division!!!  Wooohooo to my little goalie!  And my daughter's volleyball tournaments have been local as of late, so we've saved some driving time.  Now for my husband and I to kick our colds, and things should be back to "normal."  Stay warm and stay healthy, my dears!

Go Faux at Gingersnap Creations!

Another fun Random Redhead challenge is revealed today at Gingersnap Creations: GC139 Use A Faux Technique.  Fake it with anything from faux stitching to faux silk, faux brick to faux brads - anything goes.  And if you're stuck for inspiration, you can scroll down to the Tag list in the right-hand margin of the Gingersnap Creations blog - there are a bunch of tutorials on faux techniques linked there.

I used Shelly Hickox's Faux Copper Verdigris technique tutorial from the GC blog.  I must admit that this looked as if it would be a bit time consuming when I first read through it, but once I dug in and started, it really didn't take much time at all.  I won't go into the steps here - just follow the link for Shelly's beautifully detailed tutorial.

And the best part..... one lucky participant in this challenge will win a gift voucher to Rogue Redhead Designs. I've used the Relish Reading plate for this card, and there are lots more wonderful stamps to choose from.

I hope you'll have fun playing along!

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Words of Wisdom

It's a new month, and that means a new challenge theme over at Gingersnap Creations.  This month, we're "Telling It Like It Is" with lots of fun ideas for you to try.  Today we open with the Chestnut Challenge, which is "Words of Wisdom."  Use your favorite quote or truism for this one.  It can be a stamp or computer generated, letter stickers or paper collaged - however you'd like to get your words across.  And the sponsor this month is one that is near and dear to my heart - Rogue Redhead Designs. :)  For my challenge piece, I used as a base a Stamper's Sampler balloon template from several months ago.  I cut it out of some fun Prima resist chipboard and added some pretty Distress Inks and stamping for the background.  Then I added some circles punched from vintage text in French and German, along with some vintage sheet music.  I cut around the adorable reading children from Relish Reading, and attached them in place of the traditional hot air balloon basket.  The quote is also from the Relish Reading plate: "Let us read and let us dance: two amusements that will never do any harm to the world."  Love that.  We all have something in common, no matter where we're from, and we can all share in some way.

So, how about sharing some artwork?  You'll have lots of time to play along in the challenge, and you could be a lucky winner of some gorgeous stamps.  Pretty cool, huh?  Check it out at Gingersnap Creations. ;)

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Use Your Fave Paper!

It's once again time for my favorite Gingersnap Creations Challenge - the Random Redhead Challenge, and this month it is GC135: Use Your Favorite Paper.  We're focusing on using our scraps this month as well as getting them all organized. So for this challenge, grab some of those fabulous scraps that you just can't part with and make something fun!  Or, resolve to finally cut into that gorgeous piece of patterned paper that you've been admiring for, oh, maybe.... months?!  For my card, I've used an Iron Orchid Designs butterfly paper, along with my all-time favorite type of patterned paper to work with - vintage text!  I've framed up the Small Butterfly and Papillon sentiment from Jo Capper-Sandon's line at Stampotique Originals, our sponsor for this challenge.  Some twine and a small red bead provide a little accent.

I hope you can play along..... One randomly drawn winner from the qualifying participants for this challenge will become the new Home Page Artist for a week on Gingersnap Creations, and will win a $30 voucher to the Stampotique Originals store.  How sweet is that? ;)

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Use a Line of Stamps

Happy New Year, Everyone!  It's time to kick off the new year with another new challenge at Gingersnap Creations.  This one (GC 133) is easy and oh-so-fun:  Get out your favorite Stamp Set or Line of Stamps and show us your creation!  The sponsor this month is Stampotique Originals, and you will have a chance at a fab prize from them if you link up your project to the GC post.  I decided to use the Jo Capper-Sandon line from Stampotique on my card.  First, I stamped the Large Bee on both scrap cardstock and acetate - used Versamark and black embossing powder on the cardstock one, and black StazOn for the acetate.  I colored the bee and cut out all but the wings.  One the acetate image, I colored the reverse side of the wings with a blue Copic marker, then cut out the wings and attached them to the cardstock bee using Glossy Accents.

After that, I glopped some glossy accents into the center part of the bee that is supposed to be the fuzziest part, and generously poured on some black Fun Flock from Stampendous.  Oh, I love this little bee, LOL!

The background was created with a TCW Mini Chicken Wire Template and Maya Mists in Sunflower Yellow and Fig Magenta.  The Gingersnap Creations overall theme this month is Getting Organized and to use our scraps, so I used a pretty little embossed and watercolored scrap to mat my "Wish" sentiment, also from Stampotique (stamped on a leftover piece from my background).  A big ol' pink flower and an adorable little bee paperclip that I've been hoarding finish it off.  Can't wait to give this one to someone special. :)

Gingersnap Creations Spicy Supply Challenge - Wax

The new Spicy Supply Challenge over at Gingersnap Creations is CG130: Wax.  Use beeswax or wax crayons or wax paper - anything wax-related, just use your imagination.  I decided to go with an oldie but goodie - the ol' tissue paper adhered with waxed paper onto a candle technique.  You can find a wonderful tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers *here*.  They say to use white tissue paper (which I did for the snowflakes), but you can also use colored tissue to add yet another twist.  Here, I wanted it to look like old parchment or bookplates with Santas printed in sepia.  So I simply stamped on a light kraft-colored tissue (sort of a shimmery champagne color that I got at Hallmark), cut out the Santas, and waxed them on first.  Then I stamped the snowflakes on white, waxed them on, and added a little bling to the centers.  This was very quick, very easy, and makes for a fun little hostess gift that you can do at the last minute.  These Santas are from Artistic Outpost and Victorian Trading Co. 

Here's the other side:

These Santas are from Stamp Francisco and Crafty Individuals.

Hope you find some time to play along! 

Gingersnap Creations "Farm Fresh"

It's time for another "Chestnut Theme" challenge at Gingersnap Creations, and this month the theme is "Farm Fresh" to celebrate the richness of our agricultural heritage.  There are tons of different ways to interpret this challenge, so I hope you'll be able to play along.  There is a very special, near-and-dear-to-my-heart sponsor this month.... Rogue Redhead Designs!  Yep, one randomly drawn participant in this challenge will win a gift voucher from RRD.  Sweet, yes it is!

For my card, I pulled out some of my old Cornish Heritage Farms stamps.  And speaking of which.... did you know that all of CHF's images were sold?  And that they were bought by Tanya Kostynuk, of Stamper's Ink?  And... that they are coming back, in the form of digital images and rubber?  Oh yes they are!  Tanya is in the process of developing a bunch of digital images right now, and is scheduled to go live with them on November 19.  You can read all about it on the new CHF blog.  There will be some old favorites, as well as some new, never-before-seen images that never got released before CHF closed its doors.  So if you were a CHF fan.... "stay tuned" over the coming month. ;)

Ravens with Gingersnap Creations

If you love all things Poe, all things Halloween, all things spooky.... check out the new Random Redhead challenge over at Gingersnap Creations - Ravens!  How fun is that?  Well, I can tell ya, I had tons of fun with this one.  I started with an extra large chipboard raven from Red Lead.  I painted him black, then went a little wild collaging all sorts of scraps to make him a party bird.  I had tested out my new Halloween stamps from Stampotique in the margins of some vintage sheet music.  I just couldn't part with that little scrap, so it became the bird's belly (my sick sense of humor... a cat in a bird's belly... yep, I'm losing it!).  There's some vintage German text, and scraps of old Halloween paper.

He's wearing a dapper hat that is actually a stamp from Red Lead (retired?), stamped in orange over patterned paper.  Also stamped some bats, added a rhinestone eye, and a beak from some scrapped alcohol-inked paper.  The ruffle is crepe paper edged with stickles.

Mmmmm, yummy kitty, LOL!  The "Nevermore" is made from stickers from the Apothecary Emporium line.

The bit from The Raven poem is from *this* stamp, stamped on an alcohol-inked background scrap.  (You can see some of my messy embossing... I just went with the grungy-ness of it all.)

And, if you need a bit more incentive to play along.. there's a wonderful Alpha Stamps giveaway to be had by one lucky participant in the Raven challenge.  Fun stuff, I tell ya.  I hope you'll check it out!

Gingersnap Creations "Horror Stories"

A new theme challenge has just begun over at Gingersnap Creations, and this month it is "Horror Stories."  Our inspiration for the entire month of October is Edgar Allan Poe... how fun is that?!?  I decided to use The Fall of the House of Usher as the inspiration for my piece - the poem within the story (from which the quote is taken); the narrator's vision of the fissure that extended from the top to the bottom of the house, with its "vacant eye-like windows"; the ghost of the sister, Madeline.  All of the stamps used are from Oxford Impressions - "Haunted" and "Trick or Treat."  All of the DT's projects are so wonderful, I hope you'll have time to go take a look.  There's so much cool stuff gong on over at Gingersnap Creations this month... with AlphaStamps is our sponsor, and Mary Green (of gluebook fame!) as our muse.... you won't want to miss it. ;)

Gingersnap Creations Color Challenge

I *love* the color combination for the newest color challenge over at Gingersnap Creations: Turquoise, Blue, and Purple.  I chose to take the colors all soft and vintagey for my card, to go with my vintage image.  I also wanted to keep with the Gal Pal theme, so I chose this lovely retro lady writing a letter to a distant friend, with a sentiment that goes along quite nicely, I think. :)  The papers are ancient - from my stash - some My Mind's Eye, I believe.  I added a bit of crinkled seam binding and a little pin that I crafted from a pearl bead and rhinestone rondelle.  The panels are cut with Spellbinder's Nestabilities.  The images are both from Viva Las VegaStamps - "Lady Writing" and "The Heart Knows No".

Be sure to check out all of the fabulous creations of the DT members over at Gingersnap Creations.  I hope you'll play along... there is blog candy to be had this month! ;)    

Spotlighting over at Gingersnap Creations

Another quickie post today, with a look at a one-layer card I did for my Spotlight Panel tutorial over at Gingersnap Creations.  We're all about spotlight techniques this month, and this one is easy-peasy with a very fun result.  Hope you have time to take a look and join in one of our September challenges... there's Viva Las VegaStamps blog candy up for grabs with every challenge.

Also, don't forget to participate in the Scrap365 Blog Hop - click on the link to go to my post, and hop on over to the Scrap365 blog to see what all the buzz is about.

We have more volleyball today!  Last night we got to go to the Duke Blue Devils Women's Volleyball game - WOW!  It was very exciting - these ladies are wicked fabulous!  My daughter was in awe.  She is extra pumped to play today.  Hope you all have some fun things planned..... "have a happy". :)

Gingersnap Creations Shared Moments Challenge

It's that time again... time for another Random Redhead Challenge over at Gingersnap Creations, and this month the theme is "Shared Moments."  We are celebrating our gal pals this month, and we are sponsored by the amazing Viva Las VegaStamps.  Wow, do these folks carry a lot of stamps!  I'm pretty sure they come close to having a gazillion different images, in all kinds of styles.  My little project for this challenge starts out with a double glass slide mailer, which I painted and distressed.  Next, I stamped the Beach Bunch image twice - once in black in order to color it with Copics so that it had that "in living color" look, and once in sepia (this version was my "vintage photo" version).  I cut out the colored version and adhered it over sandy colored cardstock.  The sepia version I distressed a bit, cut out to fit the slide mailer, and glued in place under a glass microscope slide.  I stamped the sentiment, Good Times with Good Friends, wrapped a little metallic wire around it, and adhered it above the colored image.  Finally, I tore out a section of student dictionary that I thought had some perfect words on it.... "sand" and "sandal" to go with the beach theme, and "sanctuary" to go with the girls weekend away theme.  I attached a tiny bottle filled with sand and wrapped with more metallic wire.  I bit of doodling on the sentiment, and some metallic dresden trim finish it off.  A few more pics...

I hope you'll have time to play along in this fun challenge.... when you're done, you'll have a perfect little something for that favorite gal pal.... for her birthday or maybe even Christmas (it's right around the corner, you know!  eeeeekkk!)  One lucky participant in this challenge will win a great prize - see the Random Redhead challenge post for the deets.

Before you go, I'd like to ask you to come back and visit me again tomorrow.... I've got a very exciting announcement!  Can't wait.... something new is coming..... all of you scrapbookers and art journalers and glue bookers and heirloom album makers will be especially interested.....  Okay, gotta stop right there.  See ya'll tomorrow!

Blue Moon Challenge at Gingersnap Creations

It's that rare time.... a Once in a Blue Moon Challenge for a fifth Wednesday of the month at Gingersnap Creations!  This time we challenge you to create something based on a prior Gingersnap Creations Art Exchange theme.  You can see all of the Gingersnap Creations Art Exchange posts by following *THIS LINK*.  For my piece, I chose the Party Time Postcard exchange.... which was to make a party-themed creation using a 4 x 6 inch format.  I decided to keep with this month's theme (but you don't have to!) of Babes and Tots, and created a little beach party scene using the adorable kids from Rogue Redhead Designs Beach Babes plate.  I colored them with Copics and altered them a bit to fit the party theme.... the little girl in orange now carries a gift bag with tissue peeking out of the top, and the little boy now sports a patterned paper party hat (as does the cutie in pink), and the little gal in the pink dress now carries party balloons instead of a handkerchief.  They are on a sandy beach (leftover background that I made with distress inks), with a patterned paper banner in the background (I believe the paper is from Glitz).  I added the beach party letters along one of the banners, and also added some postcard-type stamps, too (from Stampin' Up and Artistic Outpost).  Isn't it cool... the postmark says Ocean Grove, and I was sooooo close on the date, LOL! 

I hope you'll have the chance to play along!  And ... you've got one more day to sign up for the current Art Exchange, which is Encouraging Words magnets.  Head on over to Gingersnap Creations for the details. :)

Gingersnap Creations Tribute to Teens

I love the Random Redhead challenges over at Gingersnap Creations - there's always something to stretch you, make you puzzle a bit, and they're just a whole lotta fun!  This month is certainly no exception, because GC115 is: a Tribute to Teens!  Aaaahhhh, the teen years.  Actually, my kids are currently in the Tween years, so I guess this is just a warm-up.  My 12-year-old daughter loves art, she loves to craft right along beside me, and she was just a teensie bit miffed when I said I was going to do my teen tribute piece for her 10-year-old brother.  Truth is, I really don't have much in the way of girlie teen stuff.  But I hoped I could come up with something boyishly fun.  So I started by asking my son what colors he liked.  "Orange.  And green.  And maybe blue.  And black."  Hmmmmm....  "How about for hockey teams, what colors then?"  "Purple and silver.  And green and gold," he says.  Double hmmmm.......  Okay, I can't use all of those, so I picked the ones I thought would be most "cool" and went with it!

My son is a goalie, and part-time defenseman.  (Did you know that NONE of the equipment for these two positions overlaps????  Sorry, had a hockey mom angst moment just then.)  So, a hockey canvas for him. This is a 6x6 canvas that I first covered with black gesso.  Then I layered on some clippings from a USA Hockey magazine using gel medium.  After that was dry, I thinned down some more black gesso and applied it all over to tone down the graphics a bit.  Next, I thinned down some orange acrylic paint and squished it along the side with a wide brush, allowing it to drip down the canvas.  (The lingo for ice hockey goalies is that they "melt down" the puck.... wanted to capture that melting feeling.)  More drying time.  I added some gaffer tape from 7 Gypsies, then used the same technique with some deep blue acrylic, this time letting it "melt" down from the top left-hand side.  More drying...... Next up, I used an old plastic cap dipped in Golden Interference Gold to make some iridescent gold circles - sorta icy, sorta pucky, and it checks off another of my son's preferred colors.

For the feature goalie image, I heat-embossed the goalie silhouette onto black paper, then added orange embossing powder.  (Goalie stamp is by My Heart Stamps For You.)  Before I heat set it, I stamped over it with Tim Holtz's reflections numbers stamp.  Yes, I know, the numbers are backwards this way.  Truth is, I tried it the proper way into the embossing ink and it didn't work with the thick Zing! embossing powder I was using, so I just went for the very subtle patterned effect. It sorta looks like numbers, but not really.  Then I heated the embossing powder.  I like it - a goalie's life is filled with numbers - save percentage, goals against average, shoot-out percentage, etc.... I liked the subtle reference to go along with the numbers on the tape.  I "melted" a tiny bit of blue paint down the goalie, and gel medium-ed it onto the canvas.  As a finishing touch, I painted the word "larceny" in a graffiti font.  (More background - the lingo for a really, really good save is "larceny" - as in, you have stolen the puck away from the shooter, stealing his score.)

I took the canvas downstairs to where my son was playing a video game.  He looked up at me, looked at the canvas, *smiled*, and said, "Cool."

Ahhhh, success. ;)

Planes and Trains with Gingersnap Creations

The Random Redhead Challenge GC111 this month at Gingersnap Creations is Trains and Planes - perfect for our traditional month of travel!  The DT are continuing along our lines of the Steampunk theme, but you can do anything related to planes or trains - let your imagination, ummm.... soar!  For my piece, I decided to go the railway route and used some fabulous steampunk images from Dezinaworld, along with some retired B&O stamp sets from Cornish Heritage Farms.  The map and ticket are colored with Distress Inks and crumpled and distressed to look old.  The 'gears' are part collage images, part metal embellishment.  The background is also from Dezinaworld (Sew 2 in yellow).

Want a little more incentive? One randomly drawn winner from the qualifying participants for this challenge will become GC's new Home Page Artist for a week AND will win a voucher for use in the Dezinaworld store worth $20.00 US.  Want a little more inspiration?  Check out the fabulous creations by the DT and our visiting artists at Gingersnap Creations.

GC110: Gears, Cogs, and Watch Bits

Time for another fun challenge from Gingersnap Creations, and this time we're going steampunk with GC110: Gears, Cogs and Watch Bits!  My collage images come from our sponsor this month, Dezinaworld.  I must say, these collage sheets were a joy to work with - beautiful quality, and totally fun images.  I used the Steampunk 4 collage sheet for my card, and by simply resizing a few of the images, I was able to construct this lovely couple, who are literally made for each other!  I added some cogs and gears (some in strategic places, LOL!!!), and some gear and pocket watch stamped images in the background.  As I was looking through my pages of vintage text for some words I could use, I came across this phrase (it's from Little Women) and decided to use it "as is".  Sort of made me think of two people suddenly realizing that they are perfect for each other, as this odd couple certainly is.  I think this would make a fun and funky anniversary card (or even a wedding card for the truly progressive, hee hee).

If you'd like to play along, simply link up your creation over at Gingersnap Creations by August 7, 2011.  One randomly selected qualifying entry will win a voucher for use in the Dezinaworld store worth $20.00 US, and as always, 10 Ginger Gems will also be named.

The Color of Money with Gingersnap Creations

Gingersnap Creations has put a little spin on the color challenge this month.... our new challenge is GC108: Color of Money.  Take your inspiration from the colors of currency - from your own country or abroad!  For my challenge piece, I couldn't resist dressing up this little Character Constructions gal in some fabulous blue digital currency from Altered Pages - Foreign Currency.  I made her dress by cutting out several of the same Franc image and layering it like ruffles.  Her bodice was also paper pieced from the bill, and I also made her a fashionable hat.  Of course, she had to be wearing lots of bling as well.  I found the quote online, by.... can you believe it...... Bo Derek!  Remember her - the perfect "10"?  For the background, I stamped lots of things to shop for (dresses, shoes, handbags, sunglasses) randomly over green paper that reminded me of our own currency here in the US.  Some Copics, some distress inks, and some bling added on..... of course. :)

Hope you get a chance to play along!  I'm back from the beach (Topsail Island, NC) but still finishing up that backlog of work from any vacation.... laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, and oh... did I mention laundry???  Will be crafty soon.... and... I just might have a wee bit of candy in the near future.  I think it's about time for some more, don't you? ;)

Bags and Tags with Gingersnap Creations

A little bit of fun and funky today, with a new challenge from Gingersnap Creations: Bags and Tags.  Our overall theme this month is "At the Mall", and we've also been doing some recycling/repurposing, so for my bag and tag I recycled from our latest mall trip.  I took a small square-ish bag from American Eagle and covered it with images from Altered Pages' Fashion Ladies collage sheet.  I printed out the sheet twice on regular paper, cut apart the vintage sewing pattern images, and inked them up with distress inks.  Then I collaged them onto the bag, along with some of the fashion phrases from the sheet.  The tag is also from an item of clothing (one of my daughter's - her clothes have the best tags!), on top of which I added a fashion lady image from The Artistic Stamper's Twenties' Ladies Plate 4.  A sentiment from CHF and a little bling, and you have a gift bag for a tweenie girl!

We're at the beach this week, so this is probably it for my crafty postings for a while.  I'm hoping to have lots of time to visit all of your gorgeous blogs! :)  Until next time....

Bookmark Swap

My second set of bookmarks for the Gingersnap Creations Art swap.  Paris and Pisa. :)  The one on the right has a Stampington image of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, heat embossed and colored with Distress Inks.  An Italian postmark and script Italian poem round out the collage.  On the bottom is a tiny map of Italy from a vintage German atlas I picked up at the flea market, bordered with some copper stickers.

The bookmark on the left is predominantly an image transfer onto canvas, with lace trim and a little French stamp tucked in.  It has very little stamping on the front (just some French script at the top), so I figured I'd better put some heftier stamping on the back (since that is one of the criteria for the swap!).  Here is my stamping (on the reverse side)....

Couldn't resist a little vintage French text, too.  Can't wait to see the treasures I get in return. ;)